The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1887-02-23

stances.
/ would have been ashamed of any of
my kindred if, being of the South, they
had not united with the South in her
heroic struggle, and am willing to accord
to the people of the North the propriety
of the same conduct claim to have been
right here.
1t is a great misfortune that the clear.
ing away of the smoke OF the last battle
of the war was not the signal for the
subsidence of the passions it excited
that craftsmanship did not rule and
guide the councils of the victorious gov
ernment, and that the idea of merely
preserving the Union, which had rallied
all classes at the North in support of the
war 20 that end, did not find its fulfill
! ment in the disbandment of armies and
the resumption of the former relation of
the Southern States to the Union. 1t is
sadder still to reflect on what might
have been our condition il passion and
prejudice had not exerted their baleful
influence and prevented US from the
| wise use of our opportunities. But il is
| not wise to repine; though it is die
| tate of wisdom to profit by experience
and adopt the salutatory suggestions of
the past IN our present and future. An
imated by these sentiments, | cherish
devotion to the memory of the Confed-
crate cause, for which so many gave
their lives, and which is hallowed to
most of US by the recollection of dear
ones sacrificed in its struggle. | would
preserve fresh as the flowers of spring
the recollection of all the virtues dis
played in the Confederate contest.
Though lost cause,-though branded
by authority of the victor as treason
and its followers As traitors,-I for one
am not ashamed of it. My holiest MEM
ories cluster around it. No power can
storm the fortress of a resolute heart.
When the Confederate banner was
furled, we as Confederates, in sadness
accepting the result, while weeping bit
ter tears of unfeigned sorrow and expe-
rieneing the poignancy of keenest grief
at the termination of our efforts and dis
appointment of our fond hopes, In good
faith assumed allegiance to our present
government, and have maintained it; !;
but it would be hypocricy to pretend it
was by choice, as it is treason to the
memory of our gallant dead to confess
the heart-condemned falsehood that our
cause was not Just. Oar cause was Just,
our purpose honorable and upright, and
attempted to be maintained by as noble
band as ever struck valiant blows for
freedom and right. Falsehood cannot
blacken it; malignity and calumny can
not disgrace it; misapprehension cannot
dishonor it. 1t can never become odi
Gus until the men and women of the
South forget what they owe to the MEM
ory Of the gallant dead. Can this day
ever come? Never, while the highest
virtues of manhood find worshippers.
Patriotism will always command respect.
Ii is principle inseparable from our
selves as social beings. Heroism excites
admiration, wherever displayed. 1t de
mands and receives tribute from the
human heart, even though exhibited by
the savage Modoc When beheld in
into enthusiasm. We but do honor to
the nobler impulses of the soul, in cher
ishing with grateful and afectionate re-
memorance the memory of our sleeping
heroes, and are only true to ourselves,
in annual commemoration of their sac
rifices, by decorating their nameless
graves. They were patriots. They loved
their country aud died for it. They
were heroes, aud displayed their her
oism in gallantIy striving to maintain
the right.
Then let choicest flowers be thickly
strewn by fair hands and pure hearts
above our sleeping heroes, and if the un-
hidden tear shall drop, betokening awak-
ened sympathy with cause for which
they fell, let not carping envy sit in
Judgment on the sacred grief of the
heart and call it treason. Let US ever
preserve memorial of our struggle and
It's patriot heroes. The rainbow which
spans the heavens amid the cloud, and
with its varied hues of unrivalled bril-
| liancy ravishes with its beauties all
beholders, is memorial of the covenant
made by God with all flesh to spare the
earth from devastation by another flood.
The Passover, so scrupulously observed
every year by the Children of Israel, by
command of God, is a memorial of their
great deliverance from Egyptian bond
age. And the Lords Supper, instituted
by Christ for the observance of his fol-
lowers, is a memorial of his sutferings
and death, to show them forth until he
comes And though your Memorial Day
is designed to commemorate no cove
nant, nor deliverance, nor salvation, it
is becoming the fair women of this land
to observe with annually recurring
punctuality memorial of the priya-
tions, hardships, perils and death of the
noble martyrs to cause they deemed
right and loved unto death. Greater
| love can no man have for any cause
| than to be ready to die for il, and
| whether right or wrong we need not
| stop to inquire, for he is in truth mar
| tyr who believes himself right and seals
| his faith with his life. Then let this
| Memorial Day be permanent ordinance
of Southern society, to be observed, with
appropriate ceremonies, from generation
| to generation, as preservative OF the
memory of the heroic men who gave
| their lives for their country. And as
| the Children of Israel when, annually
commemorating the Passover, memorial
| of the greatest event in their national
history, they were in after years asked
| bv their children "What meaneth this p
recountered the sublime history of their
great deliverance by the direct interpo-
| stion of Jehovah, and thus kept fresh
| in the minds of every generation the
wonderful event, as well as testified
their grateful appreciation of it before
those far removed from it in point OF
time; so let us, as a people, with each
returning spring, celebrate the day
| chosen as reminder of our heroes
and thereby preserve the memory oil
their struggle and sacrifice, as well a,
lust appreciation of the cause for which
they died. And when our children shall
/ inquire, what mean these things? though
we can not with pride point to nationa
deliverance, let us with fearless courag,
vindicate the memory of our dead from
the aspersions of malignity, and narrat.
the true history of our Confedeat.
struggle Let US tell them that thei
fathers were impelled by an apprehen
sion of danger seriously threatepin,
momentous interests, and natural de
sire to avert it; that they were arouses
by conviction of the necessity of actor
! to avert calamity and obtain security t,
valuable rights; that their fathers o
1776 asserted independence of interfer
ence with their local interests and too
, up arms to sustain their course, AM
that the people Of the South were NOR
, seriously threatened, and had far create
/ interests imperiled, aud saw govern
i ment made for common defence an
I general welfare about to be wreste
! from the purpose of its institution an
employed az an instrument of their OF
D preston and destruction; and thus sif
i uated, and thus believing, they initiate
4 the example of the patriots of 1776, an
9 sought, in peace and quiet, to assum
/ the management of their own matters
e that they declared their withdraw
e from a Union that threatened the safet
of their rights and institutions; tbs
: they formed confederate government
t taking the constitution of the Unite
e States as its construction, with sligf
4 changes, and thus showed beyond dispu,
n I L u e.